Welcome!

By saying, “Welcome, dinner is served!” you can let someone who has already been let into our country into our society as well.

We believe that integration happens on an individual level & that we all share the responsibility for shaping a world in which we want to live.

About

United Invitations is about food, language and social interaction.

It’s about making memorable meals* and new dinner constellations** happen.

*The meal is a dinner, free of charge, and in someone’s home.

The meal takes place with no strings attached, and signing up includes no obligations apart from serving food at the agreed time.

**Host and guests participate out of their own free will and with responsibility for themselves.

At least one of the participants should be a person who has moved to this country from a different country. The guest is always welcomed to bring one person along to the dinner.

Be a Part

United Invitations is a network of trust and local leadership.

We are non-governmental, not-for-profit with no ties to any political or religious institutions.

We consist of anyone who chooses to take part –

people who with responsibility for themselves and others,

out of their own free will invite someone to join them for dinner.

As dinner ambassadors,

our job is to use the confidence invested in us to

connect yet unknown friends for dinner.

How to turn strangers into dinner companions

Quite clearly, this is just one way of doing it.

See what works best in your community. Read critically.

1. Ask your friends and acquaintances, or anyone you trust, if they are interested in having an immigrant over for dinner or having dinner at an immigrants house.

2. Approach language schools, social workers, e.g. in your community. Ask if you think there is interest among the immigrants to participate and if you can come, at a time of their convenience, and present the idea.

3. Present the initiative, e.g. what you chose to call it, and ask who would like to have dinner with a native. Show photos from the Facebook page (Invitationsdepartementet, United Invitations or your own). Be clear that it is completely voluntary and only those who really want to should participate. Interested immigrants leave their name, nationality, dietary restrictions, telephone number, area where the live and whether they want to be hosts or guest. The age of children can also be useful information for matching families together. Inform them that you will be the one to call them to arrange the dinner.

4. Your acquaintances. Those who wish to host/participate in a dinner leave their name, area where they live, who is hosting the dinner, why they would like to do so and a suggestion of a suitable day, a concrete date, within the coming weeks. Inform them that they should count on the dinner happening on the chosen date, and that you will get back to them with more information about the guest.

5. Use a calendar. Mark the dates when people would like to host dinners.

6. Call the guest a few days before and ask if they are available and if anyone will be joining them for dinner. The matching is based on who lives fairly nearby, if they have children in the same age and in consideration to female/male constellations. This is not a dating service. If the date is not suitable, suggest a different day with a different host and call the next person on your list.

7. Contact the host. Inform them about the guest and any friends who will be accompanying them, if they have any allergies, what country they are from and their phone number. Ask the host the send a Welcome to dinner- text message with the address, door code, which floor, name on the door and for directions, time and date.

8. Dinner. Hello! Food, drink, blah, blah.

9. Feedback. If you do not hear from the dinner party, get back to them and ask if the enjoyed it and see if they have any suggestions for improvement.

10. Keeping score. If you want a number to warm your heart in winter time, the dinner can be added to your personal count, registered as one dinner as well as the number of participants.

Build an Empire

We are a movement. We are people.

Humans have been sharing meals for thousands and thousands of years,

so it’s not like anyone has a patent on this idea. In most cultures,

if you are newly arrived people will automatically invite you over to their house.

In many other cultures we have completely forgotten about that kind of hospitality

as a gateway to understanding a new society.

Anyone can, may and are encouraged to start their own dinner initiatives.

It is the taking action that matters.

The map shows where current pilot projects are taking place.

(A more interactive version *coming soon*.)

This is a phenomena that we grow together.

This idea needs you.

Dine

Smile, talk and invite someone on your own. It is a lot easier than you might think.

In the meantime, the map shows where dinner initiatives are taking place and and how to get in touch.

There are two categories, the“Starting out” ones who have, er, just started out and have yet to arrange their first five dinners. This means that things are new and still being figured out.

“Dinners happening” are the ones who are already up and running. They have already arranged several dinners and are getting better and better at doing what they do.

Do you have a dot we should add? Send an email to columbus ( @ ) unitedinvitations.org

Say Hello

Smile, talk, invite.

That's how easy it is to invite someone over for dinner.

I started arranging dinners in February of 2014 while working as a substitute teacher in the Swedish for immigrants language program. I had been invited to all kinds of fantastic meals at my students houses and felt that more of my native Swedish friends should take part of this. I saw how difficult it is to learn a new language when you have no one to speak it with and also became aware of how segregated my hometown Stockholm was. If people were just to meet as fellow humans over a home-cooked meal, I thought we might be able to do something about it. In Stockholm there a currently around 10o dinners a month. And this is just the beginning.

Ebba Åkerman is an Optimistkonsult, although currently Minister of Dinners. She actually prefers lunch to dinner, enjoys dancing and likes trees. Ms. Åkerman has a B.A. in Art History from Stockholm University and a M.Sc. in Sustainable Enterprising from Stockholm Resilience Center.